Rapping, also referred to as MCing or emceeing, is a vocal style in which the artist speaks lyrically, in rhyme and verse, generally to an instrumental or synthesized beat. Beats, almost always in 4/4 time signature, can be created by sampling and/or sequencing portions of other songs by a producer.[2] They also incorporate synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands. Rappers may write, memorize, or improvise their lyrics and perform their works a cappella or to a beat.

1970s

Origins

The roots of hip hop are found in African-American music and ultimately African music. The griots of West Africa are a group of traveling singers and poets who are part of an oral tradition dating back hundreds of years. Their vocal style is similar to that of rappers.[7] The African-American traditions of signifyin’, the dozens, and jazz poetry are all descended from the griots. In addition, musical ‘comedy’ acts such as Rudy Ray Moore and Blowfly are considered by some to be the forefathers of rap.

Hip hop arose during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City, particularly in the Bronx, where African American and Puerto Rican influences combined.[9][10] Block parties incorporated DJs who played popular genres of music, especially funk and soul music. Due to the positive reception, DJs began isolating the percussion breaks of popular songs. This technique was then common in Jamaican dub music[11][12] and had spread to New York City via the substantial Jamaican immigrant community. One of the first DJs in New York to use dub style mixing was the Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc, who emigrated to the United States in 1967. Dub music had become popular in Jamaica due to the influence of Americansailors and rhythm & blues. Large sound systems were set up to accommodate poor Jamaicans who couldn’t afford to buy records and dub developed at the sound systems. Because the New York audience did not particularly like dub or reggae, Herc switched to using funk, soul and disco records. As the percussive breaks were generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two records.

Turntablist techniques, such as scratching (seemingly invented by Grand Wizzard Theodore[13][14]), beat mixing/matching, and beat juggling eventually developed along with the breaks, creating a base that could be rapped over. These same techniques contributed to the popularization of remixes as the looping, sampling and remixing of another’s music, often without the original artist’s knowledge or consent, can be seen as an evolution of Jamaican dub music,[11][12] and would become a hallmark of the hip hop style.

Jamaican immigrants also provided an influence on the vocal style of rapping by delivering simple raps at their parties, inspired by the Jamaican tradition of toasting.[11][15] DJs and MCs would often add call and response chants, often consisting of a basic chorus, to allow the performer to gather his thoughts (e.g. “one, two, three, y’all, to the beat”).

Later, the MCs grew more varied in their vocal and rhythmic delivery, incorporating brief rhymes, often with a sexual or scatological theme, in an effort to differentiate themselves and to entertain the audience. These early raps incorporated the dozens, a product of African American culture. Kool Herc & the Herculoids were the first hip hop group to gain recognition in New York[citation needed], but the number of MC teams increased over time.

Often these were collaborations between former gangs, such as Afrikaa Bambaataa‘s Universal Zulu Nation – now an international organization. Melle Mel, a rapper with The Furious Five is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an “MC.”[16] During the early 1970s B-boying arose during block parties, as b-boys and b-girls got in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive and frenetic style. The style was documented for release to a world wide audience for the first time in documentaries and movies such as Style Wars, Wild Style, and Beat Street. The term “B-boy” was coined by DJ Kool Herc to describe the people who would wait for the break section of the song, getting in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style.[17]

Although there were many early MCs that recorded solo projects of note, such as DJ Hollywood, Kurtis Blow and Spoonie Gee, the frequency of solo artists didn’t increase until later with the rise of soloists with stage presence and drama, such as LL Cool J. Most early hip hop was dominated by groups where collaboration between the members was integral to the show.[18] An example would be the early hip hop group Funky Four Plus One, who performed in such a manner on Saturday Night Live in 1981.[19]

Hip hop music was an outlet and a “voice” for the disenfranchised youth of low-economic areas[20] as the culture reflected the social, economic and political realities of their lives.[21]

Influence of disco

Hip hop music was both influenced by disco and a backlash against it. According to Kurtis Blow, the early days of hip hop were characterized by divisions between fans and detractors of disco music. Hip hop had largely emerged as “a direct response to the watered down, Europeanised, disco music that permeated the airwaves”,[22][23] and the earliest hip hop was mainly based on hard funk loops. However, by 1979, disco instrumental loops/tracks had become the basis of much hip hop music. This genre got the name of “disco rap”. Ironically, hip hop music was also a proponent in the eventual decline in disco popularity.

Despite the genre’s growing popularity, Philadelphia was, for many years, the only city whose contributions could be compared to New York City’s. Hip hop music became popular in Philadelphia in the late 1970s. The first released record was titled “Rhythm Talk”, by Jocko Henderson.

The New York Times had dubbed Philadelphia the “Graffiti Capital of the World” in 1971. Philadelphia native DJ Lady B recorded “To the Beat Y’All” in 1979, and became the first female solo hip hop artist to record music.[27]Schoolly D, starting in 1984 and also from Philadelphia, began creating a style that would later be known as gangsta rap.

Heavy usage of the new generation of drum machines such as the Oberheim DMX and Roland 808 models was a characteristic of many 1980s songs. To this day the 808 kickdrum is traditionally used by hip hop producers. Over time sampling technology became more advanced; however earlier producers such as Marley Marl used drum machines to construct their beats from small excerpts of other beats in synchronisation, in his case, triggering 3 Korg sampling-delay units through a 808. Later, samplers such as the E-mu SP-1200 allowed not only more memory but more flexibility for creative production. This allowed the filtration and layering different hits, and with a possibility of re-sequencing them into a single piece.

With the emergence of a new generation of samplers such as the AKAI S900 in the late 1980s, producers did not require the aid of tape loops. Public Enemy‘s first album was created with the help of large tape loops. The process of looping break into a breakbeat now became more common with a sampler, now doing the job which so far had been done manually by the DJ. In 1989, DJ Mark James under the moniker “45 King”, released “The 900 Number”, a breakbeat track created by synchronizing samplers and vinyl.[18]

The lyrical content of hip hop evolved as well. The early styles presented in the 1970s soon were replaced with metaphorical lyrics over more complex, multi-layered instrumentals. Artists such as Melle Mel, Rakim, Chuck D, and KRS-One revolutionized hip hop by transforming it into a more mature art form. The influential single “The Message” (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five is widely considered to be the pioneering force for conscious rap.

Some rappers eventually became mainstream pop performers. Kurtis Blow‘s appearance in a Sprite commercial[30] marked the first hip hop musician to represent a major product. The 1981 song “Christmas Wrapping” by the new-wave band The Waitresses was one of the first pop songs to use some rapping in the delivery.

Nationalization and internationalization

Prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the context of the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began its spread and became a part of the music scene in dozens of countries. In the early part of the decade, B-boying became the first aspect of hip hop culture to reachGermany, Japan, Australia and South Africa, where the crew Black Noise established the practice before beginning to rap later in the decade. Musician and presenter Sidney became France’s first black TV presenter with his show H.I.P. H.O.P.[31] which screened on TF1 during 1984, a first for the genre worldwide. Radio Nova helped launch other French stars including Dee Nasty whose 1984 album Paname City Rappin’ along with compilations Rapattitude 1 and 2 contributed to a general awareness of Hip Hop in France.

Hip hop has always kept a very close relationship with the Latino community in New York. DJ Disco Wiz and the Rock Steady Crew were among early innovators from Puerto Rico. combining English and Spanish in the lyrics. The Mean Machine recorded their first song under the label “Disco Dreams” in 1981, while Kid Frost from Los Angeles began his career in 1982.

Cypress Hill was formed in 1988 in the suburb of South Gate outside Los Angeles when Senen Reyes (born in Havana) and his younger brother Ulpiano Sergio (Mellow Man Ace) moved from Cuba to South Gate with his family in 1971. They teamed up with DVX from Queens (New York), Lawrence Muggerud (DJ Muggs) and Louis Freese (B-Real), a Mexican/Cuban-American native of Los Angeles. After the departure of “Ace” to begin his solo career the group adopted the name of Cypress Hill named after a street running through a neighborhood nearby in South Los Angeles.

Japanese hip hop is said to have begun when Hiroshi Fujiwara returned to Japan and started playing Hip-Hop records in the early 1980s.[32] Japanese hip hop generally tends to be most directly influenced by old school hip hop, taking from the era’s catchy beats, dance culture, and overall fun and carefree nature and incorporating it into their music. As a result, hip hop stands as one of the most commercially viable mainstream music genres in Japan, and the line between it and pop music is frequently blurred.

New school hip hop

The new school of hip hop was the second wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. As with the hip hop preceding it, the new school came predominately from New York City. The new school was initially characterized in form by drum machine-led minimalism, with influences from rock music. It was notable for taunts and boasts about rapping, and socio-political commentary, both delivered in an aggressive, self-assertive style. In image as in song its artists projected a tough, cool, street b-boy attitude. These elements contrasted sharply with the funk and disco influenced outfits, novelty hits, live bands, synthesizers and party rhymes of artists prevalent prior to 1984, and rendered them old-school. New school artists made shorter songs that could more easily gain radio play, and more cohesive LPs than their old school counterparts. By 1986 their releases began to establish the hip hop album as a fixture of the mainstream. Hip hop music became commercially successful, as exemplified by the Beastie Boys‘ 1986 album Licensed to Ill, which was the first rap album to hit #1 on the Billboard charts.[33]

The golden age is noted for its innovation – a time “when it seemed that every new single reinvented the genre”[38] according to Rolling Stone. Referring to “hip-hop in its golden age”,[39]Spin’s editor-in-chief Sia Michel says, “there were so many important, groundbreaking albums coming out right about that time”,[39] and MTV’s Sway Calloway adds: “The thing that made that era so great is that nothing was contrived. Everything was still being discovered and everything was still innovative and new”.[40] Writer William Jelani Cobb says “what made the era they inaugurated worthy of the term golden was the sheer number of stylistic innovations that came into existence… in these golden years, a critical mass of mic prodigies were literally creating themselves and their art form at the same time”.[41]

The specific time period that the golden age covers varies slightly from different sources. Some place it square in the 1980s and 1990s – Rolling Stone refers to “rap’s ’86-’99 golden age”,[38] and MSNBC states, “the “Golden Age” of hip-hop music: The ’80s” and ’90s”.[42]

Gangsta rap and West Coast hip hop

Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that reflects the violent lifestyles of inner-city American black youths.[43]Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word gangster. The genre was pioneered in the mid 1980s by rappers such as Schooly D and Ice T, and was popularized in the later part of the 1980s by groups like N.W.A. Ice-T released “6 in the Mornin’“, which is often regarded as the first gangsta rap song, in 1986. After the national attention that Ice-T and N.W.A created in the late 1980s and early 1990s, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative subgenre of hip hop.

N.W.A is the group most frequently associated with pioneering gangsta rap. Their lyrics were more violent, openly confrontational, and shocking than those of established rap acts, featuring incessant profanity and, controversially, use of the word “nigger”. These lyrics were placed over rough, rock guitar-driven beats, contributing to the music’s hard-edged feel. The first blockbuster gangsta rap album was N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton, released in 1988. Straight Outta Compton would establish West Coast hip hop as a vital genre, and establish Los Angeles as a legitimate rival to hip hop’s long-time capital, New York City. Straight Outta Compton sparked the first major controversy regarding hip hop lyrics when their song “Fuck Tha Police” earned a letter from FBI Assistant Director, Milt Ahlerich, strongly expressing law enforcement‘s resentment of the song.[44][45] Due to the influence of Ice T and N.W.A, gangsta rap is often credited as being an originally West Coast phenomenon, despite the contributions of East Coast acts like Boogie Down Productions in shaping the genre.

The subject matter inherent in gangsta rap has caused a great deal of controversy. Criticism has come from both left wing and right wing commentators, and religious leaders. Gangsta rappers often defend themselves by saying that they are describing the reality of inner-city life, and that they are only adopting a character, like an actor playing a role, which behaves in ways that they may not necessarily endorse.[46]

1990s

In 1990, MC Hammer hit mainstream success with the multi platinum album Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em. The record reached #1 and the first single, “Can’t Touch This” charted on the top ten of the billboard hot 100. MC Hammer became one of the most successful rappers of the early nineties and one of the first household names in the genre. The album raised rap music to a new level of popularity. It was the first hip-hop album certifieddiamond by the RIAA for sales of over ten million.[47] It remains one of the genre’s all-time best-selling albums.[48] To date, the album has sold as many as 18 million units.[49][50][51][52]

In 1992, Dr. Dre released The Chronic. As well as helping to establish West Coast gangsta rap as more commercially viable than East Coast hip hop, this album founded a style called G Funk, which soon came to dominate West Coast hip hop. The style was further developed and popularized bySnoop Dogg‘s 1993 album Doggystyle.

The Wu-Tang Clan shot to fame around the same time. Being from New York City’s Staten Island, the Wu-Tang Clan brought the East Coast back into the mainstream at a time when the West Coast mainly dominated rap. Other major artists in the so-called East Coast hip hop renaissance included The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and Nas. (See the article on the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry.)

The Beastie Boys continued their success throughout the decade crossing color lines and gaining respect from many different artists.

World hip hop

In Haiti, hip hop was developed in the early 1980s, and is mostly accredited to Master Dji and his songs “Vakans” and “Politik Pa m”. What later became known as “Rap Kreyòl” grew in popularity in the late 1990s with King Posse and Original Rap Stuff. Due to cheaper recording technology and flows of equipment to Haiti, more Rap Kreyòl groups are recording songs, even after the January 12th earthquake.

New York City experienced a heavy Jamaican hip hop influence during the 1990s. This influence was brought on by cultural shifts particularly because of the heightened immigration of Jamaicans to New York City and the American-born Jamaican youth who were coming of age during the 1990s. Hip hop artists such as De La Soul and Black Star have produced albums influenced by Jamaican roots.[53]

In Asia, mainstream stars rose to prominence in the Philippines, led by Francis Magalona, Rap Asia, MC Lara and Lady Diane. In Japan, where underground rappers had previously found a limited audience, and popular teen idols brought a style called J-rap to the top of the charts in the middle of the 1990s.

Latinos had played an integral role in the early development of hip hop, and the style had spread to parts of Latin America, such as Cuba, early in its history. In Mexico, popular hip hop began with the success of Calo[disambiguation needed] in the early 1990s. Later in the decade, with Latin rap groups like Cypress Hill on the American charts, Mexican rap rock groups, such as Control Machete, rose to prominence in their native land. An annual Cuban hip hop concert held at Alamar in Havana helped popularize Cuban hip hop, beginning in 1995. Hip hop grew steadily more popular in Cuba, because of official governmental support for musicians.

In the mid-1990s, artists such as the Wu-Tang Clan, Nas and The Notorious B.I.G. increased New York’s visibility at a time when hip hop was mostly dominated by West Coast artists. The mid to late 1990s saw a generation of rappers such as the members of D.I.T.C. such as the late Big L andBig Pun.

The rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast rappers eventually turned personal,[57] aided in part by the music media.[citation needed]

Although the “big business” end of the market dominated matters commercially the late 1990s to early 2000s saw a number of relatively successful East Coast indie labels such as Rawkus Records (with whom Mos Def gained great success) and later Def Jux; the history of the two labels is intertwined, the latter having been started by EL-P of Company Flow in reaction to the former, and offered an outlet for more underground artists such as Mike Ladd, Aesop Rock, Mr Lif, RJD2, Cage and Cannibal Ox. Other acts such as the Hispanic Arsonists and slam poet turned MC Saul Williams met with differing degrees of success.

Hip hop influences also found their way increasingly into mainstream pop during this period mainly the mid 2000s. In the East Coast, popular acts during this period included 50 Cent, whose 2003 album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts.[63]

World and national music

The continuation of hip hop can also be seen in different national contexts. In Tanzania, maintained popular acts of their own in the early 2000s, infusing local styles of Afrobeat and arabesque melodies, dancehall and hip-hop beats, and Swahili lyrics.Scandinavian, especially Danish and Swedish, performers became well known outside of their country, while hip hop continued its spread into new regions, including Russia, Japan, Philippines, Canada, China, Korea, India and especially Vietnam. Of particular importance is the influence on East Asian nations, where hip hop music has become fused with local popular music to form different styles such as K-pop, C-pop and J-pop.

In Germany and France, gangsta rap has become popular among youths who like the violent and aggressive lyrics.[66] Some German rappers openly or comically flirt with Nazism, Bushido (born Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi) raps “Salutiert, steht stramm, Ich bin der Leader wie A” (Salute, stand to attention, I am the leader like ‘A’) and Fler had a hit with the record Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) complete with the title written in Third Reich style Gothic print and advertised with an Adolf Hitler quote.[67]These references also spawned great controversy in Germany.[68][69] Meanwhile in France, artists like Kery James‘ Idéal J maintained a radical, anti-authoritarian attitude and released songs like Hardcore which attacked the growth of the French far right.

In the Netherlands, MC Brainpower went from being an underground battle rapper to mainstream recognition in the Benelux, thus influencing numerous rap artists in the region. In Israel, rapper Subliminal reaches out to Israeli youth with political and religious-themed lyrics, usually with a Zionist message.[70]

One of the countries outside the US where hip-hop is most popular is the United Kingdom. In the 2000s a derirative genre from Hip-Hop (as well as UK Garage and Drum and Bass) known as Grime became popular with artists such as Dizzee Rascal becoming successful.[71] Although it is immensely popular, many British politicians criticize the music for what they see as promoting theft and murder, similar to gangsta rap in America. These criticisms have been deemed racist by the mostly Black British grime industry.[72] Despite its controversial nature, grime has had a major affect on British fashion and pop music, with many young working class youth emulating the clothing worn by grime stars like Dizzee Rascal and Wiley.[73] There are many subgenres of grime, including Rhythm and Grime, a mix of R&B and grime, and grindie, a mix of indie rock and grime popularized by indie rock band Hadouken!.[74]

Hip hop has globalized into many cultures worldwide, as evident through the emergence of numerous regional scenes. It has emerged globally as a movement based upon the main tennets of hip hop culture. The music and the art continue to embrace, even celebrate, its transnational dimensions while staying true to the local cultures to which it is rooted. Hip-hop’s inspiration differs depending on each culture. Still, the one thing virtually all hip hop artists worldwide have in common is that they acknowledge their debt to those African American people in New York who launched the global movement.[75] While hip-hop is sometimes taken for granted by Americans, it is not so elsewhere, especially in the developing world, where it has come to represent the empowerment of the disenfranchised and a slice of the American dream. American hip-hop music has reached the cultural corridors of the globe and has been absorbed and reinvented around the world.[76]

Crunk and snap music

Looped, stripped-down drum machine rhythms are usually used. The Roland TR-808 and 909 are among the most popular. The drum machines are usually accompanied by simple, repeated synthesizer melodies and heavy bass stabs. The tempo of the music is somewhat slower than hip-hop, around the speed of reggaeton.

The focal point of crunk is more often the beats and music than the lyrics therein. Crunk rappers, however, often shout and scream their lyrics, creating an aggressive, almost heavy, style of hip-hop. While other subgenres of hip-hop address sociopolitical or personal concerns, crunk is almost exclusively party music, favoring call and response hip-hop slogans in lieu of more substantive approaches.[77]

Glitch hop and wonky music

Glitch hop and Wonky music evolved following the rise of trip hop, dubstep and IDM. Both styles of music frequently reflect the experimental nature of IDM and the heavy bass featured in dubstep songs. While trip hop was described as being a distinct British upper-middle class take on hip-hop, glitch-hop and wonky music have featured much more stylistic diversity. Both genres are melting pots of influence, echoes of 1980s pop music, Indian ragas, eclectic jazz and West Coast rap can be heard in glitch hop productions. Los Angeles, London, Glasgow and a number of other cities have become hot spots for these scenes, and underground scenes have developed across the world in smaller communities. Both genres often pay homage to more well older and more well established electronic music artists such as Radiohead, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada as well as independent hip hop producers like J Dilla and Madlib.

Glitch hop is a fusion genre of hip hop and glitch music that originated in the early to mid 2000s in the United States and Europe. Musically, it is based on irregular, chaotic breakbeats, glitchy basslines and other typical sound effects used in glitch music, like skips. Glitch hop artists includePrefuse 73, Dabrye and Flying Lotus.

Wonky is a subgenre of hip hop that originated around 2008 all around the globe (but most notably in the United States and United Kingdom, and among international artists of the Hyperdub music label), under the influence of glitch hop and dubstep. Wonky music is of the same glitchy type as glitch hop, but it was specifically noted for its melodies, rich with “mid-range unstable synths”. Scotland has become one of the most prominent places, where wonky music was shaped by artists like Hudson Mohawke and Rustie.

Glitch hop and wonky are popular among a limited amount of people interested in alternative hip hop and electronic music (especially dubstep); neither glitch hop nor wonky have met any mainstream popularity, however, artists like Flying Lotus, The Glitch Mob and Hudson Mohawke have seen success in other avenues. Flying Lotus’s music has earned multiple positive reviews on the independent (and notoriously discerning) music review site Pitchfork.com as well as a prominent (yet uncredited) spot during Adult Swim commercial breaks. Hudson Mohawke is one of few glitch hop artists to play at major music festivals such as Sasquatch! Music Festival.

Decline in sales

Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, leading Time magazine to question if mainstream hip-hop was “dying.” Billboard Magazine found that, since 2000, rap sales dropped 44%, and declined to 10% of all music sales, which, while still a commanding figure when compared to other genres, is a significant drop from the 13% of all music sales where rap music regularly placed.[79][80]NPR culture critic Elizabeth Blair noted that, “some industry experts say young people are fed up with the violence, degrading imagery and lyrics.”

Others say the music is just as popular as it ever was, but that fans have found other means to consume the music.”[81] It can also be argued that many young people now download music illegally, especially through P2P networks, instead of purchasing albums and singles from legitimate stores. For example, Flo Rida is known for his low album sales regardless of his singles being mainstream and having digital success. His second album R.O.O.T.S. sold only 200,000+ total units in the U.S., which could not line up to the sales of the album’s lead single “Right Round“. This also happened to him in 2008.[82] Some put the blame on the lack of lyrical content that hip hop once had, another example is Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em‘s 2007 debut album souljaboytellem.com was met with negative reviews.[83] Lack of sampling, a key element of hip hop, has also been noted for the decrease in quality of modern albums. For example, there are only four samples used in 2008’s Paper Trail by T.I., while there are 35 samples in 1998’s Moment of Truth by Gang Starr. The decrease in sampling is in part due to it being too expensive for producers.[84] In Byron Hurt‘s documentaryHip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, he claims that hip hop had changed from “clever rhymes and dance beats” to “advocating personal, social and criminal corruption.”[85] Despite the fall in record sales throughout the music industry,[86] hip-hop has remained a popular genre, with hip-hop artists still regularly topping the Billboard 200 Charts. In the first half of 2009 alone artists such as Eminem,[87]Rick Ross,[88]Black Eyed Peas,[89] and Fabolous[90] all had albums that reached the #1 position on the Billboard 200 charts. Eminem’s album Relapse was one of the fastest selling albums of 2009.[91] In 2010, six hip hop acts topped the Billboard 200; Ludacris, B.o.B, Drake, Eminem, Lil Wayne and Kanye West. In 2011 so far Nicki Minaj has topped the Billboard 200 and Wiz Khalifa has topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Innovation and revitalization

It was in the later 2000s that alternative hip hop finally secured a place within the mainstream, due in part to the declining commercial viability of gangsta rap as well as the crossover success of artists such as OutKast, Kanye West, and Gnarls Barkley.[92] Not only did OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below receive high acclaim from music critics, manage to appeal to listeners of all ages, and span numerous musical genres – including rap, rock, R&B, punk, jazz, indie, country, pop, electronica and gospel – but it also spawned two number-one hit singles and has been certifieddiamond by selling 11 times platinum by the RIAA for shipping more than 11 million units,[93]becoming the best selling rap album of all time as well as winning a Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards being only the second rap album to do so. Industry observers view the sales racebetween Kanye West’s Graduation and 50 Cent‘s Curtis as a turning point for hip hop. West emerged the victor, selling nearly a million copies in the first week alone, proving that innovative rap music could be just as commercially viable as gangsta rap, if not more so.[94] Although he designed it as a melancholic pop rather than rap, Kanye’s following 808s & Heartbreak would have a significant effect on hip hop music. While his decision to sing about love, loneliness, and heartache for the entirety of the album was at first heavily criticized by music audiences and the album predicted to be a flop, its subsequent critical acclaim and commercial success encouraged other mainstream rappers to take greater creative risks with their music.[95][96] During the release of The Blueprint 3, New York rap mogul Jay-Z revealed that next studio album would be an experimental effort, stating, “… it’s not gonna be a #1 album. That’s where I’m at right now. I wanna make the most experimental album I ever made.”[97] Jay-Z elaborated that like Kanye, he was unsatisfied with contemporary hip hop, was being inspired by indie-rockers like Grizzly Bear and asserted his belief that the indie rock movement would play an important role in the continued evolution of hip-hop.[98]

The alternative hip hop movement is not limited only to the United States, as rappers such as Somali–Canadian poet K’naan, Japanese rapper Shing02, and Sri Lankan British artist M.I.A. have achieved considerable worldwide recognition. In 2009, TIME magazine placed M.I.A in the Time 100 list of “World’s Most Influential people” for having “global influence across many genres.”[99][100] Today, due in part to the increasing use of music distribution through the internet, many alternative rap artists find acceptance by far-reaching audiences. Several burgeoning artists such as Kid Cudi and Drake have managed to attain record-breaking, chart-topping hit songs, “Day ‘n’ Night” and “Best I Ever Had” respectively, which they both released on free online mixtapes without the help of a major record label. The pair, along with other new artists such as Wale, The Cool Kids, Jay Electronica, and B.o.B, openly acknowledge being directly influenced by their nineties alt-rap predecessors[citation needed] in addition to alt-rock groups while their music has been noted by critics as expressing eclectic sounds, life experiences, and emotions rarely seen in mainstream hip hop.[101]